Their first album, which was self-titled, was released in August 1991. Its single was "Phuncky Feel One", but it was the B-side "How I Could Just Kill A Man" (formerly "Trigga Happy Nigga") that attracted more airplay on urban radio and college radio. Based on the success of the single and other tracks such as bilingual track "Latin Lingo" and X-rated Spanish track "Tres Equis", the album sold two million copies in the US alone. Subsequently, DJ Muggs produced the first House of Pain album, then worked on other projects like Funkdoobiest. The band made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.
Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also with their debut still on the charts they became the first rap artists to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.
Cypress Hill was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs smoked cannabis on-air and the band trashed their instruments while playing their second single "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That". The band headlined the "Soul Assassins" tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.
The band played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival introducing their new member Eric Bobo, formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Bobo is the son of salsa musician Willie Bobo. Rolling Stone magazine named the band as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They appeared on the The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza".
Their third album Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995 selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air". Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.
Feud With Ice Cube
Ice Cube asked to put "Throw Your Set in the Air" on his Friday soundtrack, but B-Real refused, prompting Cube to record a new song "Friday" with a similar chorus; Cypress Hill responded with the track "No Rest For The Wicked." Westside Connection replied with the diss track "King Of The Hill" and "Cross Em Out & Put a K", to which Cypress Hill replied with "Ice Cube Killa," which uses the same beat as "King Of The Hill" and disses Ice Cube and Mack 10. "Ice Cube Killa" has never been released officially. In 1997 B-Real of Cypress Hill and Ice Cube were invited to a late night talk show in order to reconcile their differences for the benefit of the hip hop community, and the feud thus ended. Cube And B-Real would work together later that year as guest features on the track "Men of Steel" for the soundtrack of Shaquille O'Neal's film Steel. B-Real and Cube did even feature as guests in Warren G's single "Get U Down" which also featured Snoop Dogg.
Continued career
Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based punk-rap band SX-10. Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Muggs Presents ... the Soul Assassins featuring contributions from Wu-Tang Clan members, Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" on Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and released an album entitled "The Psycho Realm" from his side project of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on Cypress Hill, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.
Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., even though the reviews were somewhat negative,[citation needed] on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and another tribute to smoking cannabis "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime/very mature video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. Cypress Hill then fused genres with their two-disc release, Skull & Bones, in 2000. The first disc, "Skull" was comprised of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Fransico) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.
Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and Rob Aston of The Transplants on backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy and Twin of Mobb Deep and producer the Alchemist.
In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December of 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato". Pharrell Williams produced the track, and originally sang the hook, but because of the video idea, B-Real was asked to sing the hook. Sen Dog is now currently touring with the Kottonmouth Kings, Kingspade and Dogboy on the Joint is on Fire Tour
In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoae Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, and Hangar 18.
Departure from Sony
Having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Sony Music, Cypress Hill will release an as-yet untitled album through a different record label in 2008.
Recently, it was announced that Cypress Hill will be members of the Kannabis Kartel along with the Kottonmouth Kings and Potluck. Their album will be released on Suburban Noize Records.
STYLE
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Production
One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals, which fits and emphasizes the lyrics' concentration on parodied gangster stories.
Sen Dog's lyrics are progressively more violent and tend to involve fewer rhyme schemes compared with B-Real's. In addition, as the style is today, some words are emphasized by adding a background voice to say them, however, Sen Dog's emphases are always more prominent, mostly shouted alongside with the rapping.
The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is also notable for its influence and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.
The band is also known for involving rock instruments in their songs. This has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rapcore group. In IV, there is Lightning Strikes which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. Skull & Bones has an entire disc using such instruments, labeled Bones. As for their later works, their involvement in rock ended with the album Stoned Raiders (the tracks Trouble (also the first single of the album), Amplified and Catastrophe being the songs).
The band's music is constantly subject to change; while the first album follows a more minimalistic and funky sound, Black Sunday, the successor, has a slightly darker side to it. III (Temples of Boom) and IV are mostly influenced by psychedelic music. The band abandoned that on Skull & Bones and got closer to the modern rap as it is today. Stoned Raiders has a more authentic sound than the rest, and Till Death Do Us Part carries reggae influences.
The band is also known to involve horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. What's Your Number?, Trouble, Tequila Sunrise, and (Rock) Superstar have become some of the bands most popular songs featuring these elements. Cypress Hill's experimenting in different genres of music even includes reggaeton in their track "Latin Thugs" which features Tego Calderon.
Some fans feel that the band has drifted somewhat from the values of their earlier albums. For example in "Strictly Hip Hop" from Temples of Boom, the band complain about hip hop artists who have an album of hardcore tracks but have one or two pop songs which just so happen to be the singles. Cypress have arguably fallen into this trap with the single "What's You Number?"
The sound contribitions of DJ Muggs seems to be clearly influenced by marijuana consumption. Since one of the effects of a cannabis high is an altered audio sensual perception, the often slow paced and deep bass can be better appreciated. Furthermore, psychedelic sequences underly some parts of certain tracks such as "I Wanna Get High" for example. This is an interesting feature of their music, that had also been used before, especially during the 60's and 70's (e.g. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles).
Lyrics
The lyrics of tracks like "How I Could Just Kill A Man" offer an insight into the cultural expression of social stratification in L.A. at that point in history. Many other songs have cited topics such as police brutality, racial profiling, gang violence and anecdotes about invasion of privacy by police.
Furthermore the celebration of marijuana consumption is what they are often associated with in songs like "I Wanna Get High", "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk" or "Hits From The Bong", the themes of recreational use of marijuana are prevalent.
Many of their songs also protest the current marijuana laws and voice their opinions on the hypocrisy of drug enforcement institutions.
Their lyrics often reflect the hip hop culture of Los Angeles in their earlier work such as their self-titled album and Black Sunday, which were very influential not only to Latino hip hop of the time but to many other hip hop groups around the world as well.
Throughout their career they have commonly incorporated Spanish into their lyrics as well as slang used by some Latinos in Los Angeles on songs like "Latin Lingo". Their album "Los Grandes Exitos En Espanol" features Spanish translations of many of their hit songs.
Years active 1987 - present.
Ganja Bus (feat. Damian Marley
Cypress Hill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We now want the new weed, beat under us
Rollin' up, roll like we thunderous
Somkin' up, Rasta not sprinkle dust
Too much ecstasy, make manna exit us
Too much fantasy, here upon next to us
Fit in ganja weed, always notorious
Sucker censor me, if you feel glorious
Believe me though, death upon your Marlboro
You want my roll, on someone you hardly know
This Marley grow, no time to move feet
Make it slow, you tellin' me no
Say you want to start the show
Like cool, Johnny Depp and you want to blow
You shot, direct; that means you are far bellow
You start to take, substances up in your nose
No nina where you find me
Some boy go rich, blow ninety
We're smokin' like a genie
The skunky and the greenie
On the ganja bus, they comin' after us
We makin' stops all over Los Angeles
On the block, where the weed that get scandalous
When we run around, police can't handle us
They wanna clout the bus, and on the top be us
They never wanna come around, just a rowdy bunch
Tengo el poder, tu no aguantas
Yo se, que el juego es dificil para usted
Despiertate, no dejes tu gente ver
Tu situacion cuando no puedes mantener
En fuerza que nosotros, ensenale
Deja tu vida sin rastros, escondete
Portate, we flyin' up tu saint tropez
And if you want we can jet through Montego bay
No nina where you find me
Some boy go rich, blow ninety
We're smokin' like a genie
The skunky and the greenie
Senn Dogg!
Cuando fumo yo no juego, pasame el fuego
Me lo fumo todo, quememe los dedos
En la mañana cuando me levanto
Antes que nada, yo quemo un pipaso
Enamorado con la yerba buena
comida cubana y las nalgas morenas
todas las nenas saben que yo tengo
las colitas, vete en mi leno
no hay nadie que me quite el vicio
marihuano por vida, oiste chico?
Mundo entero quiero que me entiende
La Cannabis es buena pa' tu mente
It's so hazardous
Take a strive with us
When it's over California, we react the bus
We fabulous, your talk don't mean jack to us
Better fear for your ass when disaster come
Pass ya' blunts, gonna have to mash it up
For you conniving mothafuckers wanna stash it up
You actin' up, we can't have that's whats up
Listen Muggs on the table gonna slash it up
The lyrics of Cypress Hill's song Ganja Bus talk about smoking weed and cruising around in a bus while doing so. The song starts with the chorus, where they invite people to join them on the Ganja Bus, which is now fueled by a new type of weed that they have acquired. They are rolling up and smoking like thunder, but they make it clear that they sprinkle no dust.
Then, the verses describe how they enjoy smoking weed, the effect it has on them, and how they encounter difficulties with the police. The lyrics mention how consuming too much ecstasy can be detrimental to one's health, and they prefer sticking to ganja that makes them notorious. They also talk about how they incorporate weed into their meals and how they have no qualms about smoking anywhere, including on the bus.
Finally, the chorus repeats with some added lines in Spanish, followed by a verse where they warn people to fear disaster when it comes and ask them to pass the blunts to keep smashing them up.
The song speaks to the band's long-standing love of weed, which they have been vocal about since the beginning. Ganja Bus features explicit lyrics and different languages, adding to the international appeal of Cypress Hill.
Line by Line Meaning
All aboard, and jump on the Ganja Bus
Get on the bus and join us in smoking weed
We now want the new weed, beat under us
We want the latest, greatest strain of weed to smoke
Rollin' up, roll like we thunderous
Rolling up the joint like thunder, getting ready to smoke
Smokin' up, Rasta not sprinkle dust
We're smoking weed, but we're not adding any other drugs
Too much ecstasy, make manna exit us
Taking too much ecstasy can make us leave this earth
Too much fantasy, here upon next to us
Taking too many drugs can bring us closer to death
Fit in ganja weed, always notorious
Smoking weed will always be considered controversial
Sucker censor me, if you feel glorious
If you're someone who restricts us from smoking weed, you're a loser
We have weed in our cakes and Oreo's
We sometimes mix weed into our baked goods
Believe me though, death upon your Marlboro
Smoking cigarettes is more dangerous than smoking weed
You want my roll, on someone you hardly know
Don't ask me for a joint if we're not close
This Marley grow, no time to move feet
Bob Marley's strain of weed (Marley grow) is so good, you won't want to go anywhere
Make it slow, you tellin' me no
I'm asking you to take it easy and slow down, but you're saying no
Say you want to start the show
You're eager to smoke weed with us
Like cool, Johnny Depp and you want to blow
You want to smoke weed like Johnny Depp
You shot, direct; that means you are far bellow
You're acting over the top and are below our level
You start to take, substances up in your nose
You're starting to use drugs like cocaine
No nina where you find me
I can be found anywhere, at any time
Some boy go rich, blow ninety
Some people get rich by selling drugs
We're smokin' like a genie
We're smoking a lot of weed
The skunky and the greenie
We're smoking strains of weed that are both smelly and green
On the ganja bus, they comin' after us
The police are after us for smoking weed on the bus
We makin' stops all over Los Angeles
We're traveling all around LA while smoking weed
On the block, where the weed that get scandalous
We're smoking weed in areas where it may cause trouble
When we run around, police can't handle us
The police can't keep up with us when we're smoking weed and moving quickly
They wanna clout the bus, and on the top be us
The police want to catch us and be praised for doing so
They never wanna come around, just a rowdy bunch
The police don't want to deal with us because we're rowdy
Tengo el poder, tu no aguantas
I have the power, you can't handle it
Yo se, que el juego es dificil para usted
I know the game is hard for you to understand
Despiertate, no dejes tu gente ver
Wake up and don't let your people see you struggling
Tu situacion cuando no puedes mantener
Your situation when you can't keep up
En fuerza que nosotros, ensenale
We're stronger than you, let us teach you
Deja tu vida sin rastros, escondete
Disappear and leave no trace behind
Portate, we flyin' up tu saint tropez
Behave, and we'll take you on a trip to Saint-Tropez
And if you want we can jet through Montego bay
If you want, we can travel to Montego Bay by private jet
Cuando fumo yo no juego, pasame el fuego
When I smoke, I'm serious about it, pass me the lighter
Me lo fumo todo, quememe los dedos
I smoke it all, and burn my fingers doing so
En la mañana cuando me levanto
In the morning when I wake up
Antes que nada, yo quemo un pipaso
The first thing I do is smoke a joint
Enamorado con la yerba buena
I'm in love with good weed
Comida cubana y las nalgas morenas
I enjoy Cuban food and appreciate women with dark skin
Todas las nenas saben que yo tengo
All the ladies know that I have weed and other things
Las colitas, vete en mi leno
The extras go in my stash
No hay nadie que me quite el vicio
No one can take away my love for smoking weed
Marihuano por vida, oiste chico?
I'm a weed smoker for life, understand?
Mundo entero quiero que me entiende
I want everyone in the world to understand me
La Cannabis es buena pa' tu mente
Cannabis is good for your mind
It's so hazardous
Smoking weed can be dangerous
Take a strive with us
Smoke weed with us and take the risk
When it's over California, we react the bus
We're smoking weed all over California while driving around in the bus
We fabulous, your talk don't mean jack to us
We're amazing and don't care what you say about us
Better fear for your ass when disaster come
You should be afraid when things go wrong
Pass ya' blunts, gonna have to mash it up
Share your joints, but be prepared for it to be mixed with other weed
For you conniving mothafuckers wanna stash it up
You're trying to hide your weed, but we see through your plan
You actin' up, we can't have that's whats up
You're being difficult and we can't tolerate it
Listen Muggs on the table gonna slash it up
DJ Muggs is going to mix up some music for us to smoke weed to
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing, THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: ANTHONY ST. AUBYN KELLY, LOUIS M. FREEZE, SENEN REYES, DAMIAN MARLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Johnny Polo
Cuando fumo yo no juego, pasame el fuego
Me lo fumo todo, quememe los dedos
En la manana cuando me levanto
Antes que nada, yo quemo un pipaso
Enamorado con la yerba buena
comida cubana y las nalgas morenas
todas las nenas saben que yo tengo
las colitas, vete en mi leno
no hay nadie que me quite el vicio
marihuano por vida, oiste chico?
Mundo entero quiero que me entiende
La Cannabis es buena pa' tu mente
José Antonio Jose
Otro de esos grandes éxitos que nunca serán olvidados!!
PaniNikolov
marley + cypress = sick stuff...so much talent in this kind of music ain't seen anywhere but here
Arnold Layne
I always hoover up to this on full blast!
samesam1231
CYPRESS HILL + DAMIAN MARLEY = MUSICAL GENIUS
John T
Cypress Hill are sooo awesome!! Epic featuring with Damian ~_~ so trippy !
fernando enrique llanca arraño
la musica y nuestra ganjah eleva nuestros sentimientos ,,,fuerza rasta fari ,,,por siempre ,.
Adnan Meša
This is like the best song to listen when you're high! :)))
JK
He has this bad boy look going on but still looks chill and down- to -earth at the same time. #LoveDamianMarley😘💕🔥❤💯
Liisa Sydes
LOVE THIS!!! <3 Now I feel like either smoking weed or shaking my ass to the beat, just saying.
MrBllanos
piel de gallina dios!!!